Regional AI Strategy For Southeast Asia And Taiwan – OpEd – Eurasia Review

The U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors and AI models present a structural barrier for emerging Southeast and East Asian economies aiming to develop their technology sectors.
Developing a regionally-focused AI model for Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan is economically rational, given these countries’ complementary strengths in technology manufacturing, cloud-based ICTs, data centers, and data availability.
Such a collaborative regional AI project would spur productivity across various industries in Southeast Asia, enhance public services, and cement the roles of Singapore and Malaysia as regional data hubs.
Feasibility concerns include the cost of training AI models, the need for harmonized industrial policies, potential geopolitical pressure from superpowers, and the risk of a regional brain drain.
Challenges include establishing disciplined investment plans, creating governance bodies like a regional AI council, framing the project to mitigate geopolitical suspicions, and setting up regional research grants and innovation hubs.
The project aims to reduce regional dependency on outside superpowers for key technologies, enhance economic integration, and boost the region’s overall productivity in the long term, while creating immediate applications that increase productivity in industries and services.

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